The Coastal Courier recently earned several 2014 Georgia Press Association awards, which were formally announced last week at the association's annual Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony and banquet on Jekyll Island. The prizes recognize the best newspapers in Georgia for their achievements in reporting, writing, photography, website content creation, newspaper-page and special-section design and videography.

Liberty Transit is participating in the ninth annual national "Dump the Pump" day June 19. Anyone interested in trying public transit for the day will receive free rides. For route schedules and more information, go to www.libertytransit.org or call 877-4172.

Back in the day, people could work in various professions without the state getting involved. Now, as Morris M. Kleiner, a professor of public affairs at the University of Minnesota, points out, things are a little different.

Median pay packages for chief executives reached a new high last year of over $10 million, according to a study by the Associated Press and Equilar. This is the fourth year that compensation has climbed for top execs, as they continue to profit from the rising stock market.

For weeks, local residents have posed questions to the Coastal Courier about the 7.82-acre tract of land being cleared at the corner of South Main Street and Veterans Parkway. Along with the questions, there have been unsubstantiated rumors about what's being developed at the site.

Fit to Style, a new clothing store in Hinesville, held a ribbon cutting May 16 at 481 E.G. Miles Parkway, suite D, with the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce. The business held its official grand opening May 10.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that metro Hinesville's unemployment rate decreased to 7.6 percent in April, down 0.3 percent from 7.9 percent in March. The rate was 8.5 percent in April a year ago.

Home delivery of Wednesday's Coastal is running late. Publisher Mark Griffin said the gathering of election results delayed the paper's press time, thus making it hard for carriers to get the papers out at the correct time.

Articles by Section - Business

Every job has requirements. Factory workers are required to do specific tasks every day. Doctors have to abide by certain health and ethical codes in caring for patients. Cooks have to prepare food according to the menu.

The first three months of the year mean many things to many people. Snow. Super Bowl. Groundhog Day. Valentine's Day. President's Day weekend. Mardi Gras. Lent. And the promise of pleasant spring to come.